Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity
FROM THE
GRAND SAGE
EMERALD
PUBLISHED SINCE 1911
Dear Brothers: In this issue of the Emerald, we honor four exceptional brothers who will each receive the Founders’ Award, Sigma Pi Fraternity’s highest mark of distinction, at our Biennial Convocation in New Orleans this summer. Each of these men has earned our respect and admiration through unflagging devotion to those principles embodied in our Creed and dedication to the betterment of society through education, public service and/or service to Sigma Pi. Charles Bayless has returned to his alma mater, West Virginia Institute of Technology, to assume the role of president. His mission of teaching young people is one of the great callings, and his dedication to that mission has elevated him to the highest echelons of the educational community. Brother Bayless faces great challenges as a university president, but Grand Sage Kitch I know that he is meeting those challenges with grace, dedication and success. Tech will prosper under his administration. Bob Burns also has served as a university president – twice – as well as being a Past Grand Sage of Sigma Pi. He served as chairman of our nominating committee at the Biennial Convocation in Chicago and is our delegate to the North American Interfraternity Conference, where he has represented us well. On a personal note, he also has been a willing ear for me when I needed one, and his advice has always been dead on the mark. He is a tremendous asset to the Fraternity. Mike Beebe has dedicated his life to public service, previously serving twenty years in the Arkansas State Senate, serving at the present time as attorney general of his home state, and currently running for governor of Arkansas. Even more significant to me, I remember meeting him at an Alpha-Pi Founders’ Day banquet at Arkansas State, where he gave an inspiring speech about how Sigma Pi had taken him in as a simple country boy and helped him become the man he is today. If you ever doubt the value of Sigma Pi in your life, just ask Mike. He knows. The last Founders’ Award is awarded posthumously. Past Grand Sage Jack Fields has passed to the Adytum on High, but his service to higher education and to the Fraternity lives on. His leadership set the stage for Sigma Pi’s rise to supremacy in the Greek world and his work as a professor and administrator at Illinois Wesleyan helped maintain that institution’s preeminence in the university community. He is missed by all of us whose lives he touched. I was saddened to hear of the death of Bob Merriman, a Founders’ Award recipient in 1998, who ascended to the Adytum on High on March 18. Bob had been a member of the Grand Council and was a long-time Trustee of the Educational Foundation, serving as its president from 1998 to 2002. A Founding Father of Alpha-Rho Chapter at Missouri State University, Bob never forgot that the primary mission of Sigma Pi is to develop our young men’s character. To that end he was always available to advise his own chapter and others in his home state, and the success of those chapters is in large measure due to his sage advice. Two other alumni brothers meriting special recognition are Fred Sorsabal and Alan Rovira. Brother Sorsabal has been elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Masons of California. A Beta-Omicron alumnus, Brother Sorsabal now leads one of the largest Masonic organizations in the world with over 75,000 members statewide. Brother Rovira of Zeta-Phi Chapter at Southeast Louisiana was among those who were awarded the NASA Exceptional Bravery Award for their willingness to remain in the New Orleans area with Hurricane Katrina bearing down on them so that they could help protect the facility responsible for the space shuttles’ external fuel tanks. In presenting the award NASA administrator Michael Griffin stated that “Their courage reminds us that not all of NASA’s heroes fly in space.” Last but not least, I want to thank Frank Fryburg for his many years of dedicated service to the Fraternity. Frank, you may think that you’re retiring from active involvement, but rest assured I’m not letting you off the hook that easily! Lest you think that I have forgotten about our undergraduate brothers, I want to tell you that, as of this writing, we are at 130 groups, chapters and colonies, and by the time you read this, we will approach 135. Our average group size is growing as well. In the face of declining numbers in many other Greek organizations, Sigma Pi’s growth is amazing, but not unexpected. Our staff has achieved such success through hard work, polished presentations and a focus on the values of our Creed. They are to be congratulated. I hope to see you all for “Brotherhood on the Bayou,” our Biennial Convocation in New Orleans the first week of August. “Laissez les bon temps roulez!”
VOLUME XCI, NUMBER 2 • SPRING 2006 EDITORIAL STAFF Brian C. Alley (Α, Vincennes ’03) Managing Editor Mark S. Briscoe (ΑΠ, Arkansas ’82) Business Manager VOLUNTEER STAFF Adam Shores (ΔΨ, Troy ’98), Chairman Chris Munschek (ΒΝ, S.Ill.-Carbondale ’97) Larry Rovira (ΕΝ, Cal State - Fullerton ’85) Jeffery Seay (ΗΕ, Florida State ’91) CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jeremy Boyd (ΘΛ, Radford ‘04) Frank C. Fryburg (Θ, Penn State ’49) Alan Moore (ΕΠ, Christopher Newport ‘05) Gregory Ritchie (ΔΖ, Missouri - St. Louis ‘04)
Sigma Pi Fraternity was founded at Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana, on February 26, 1897. Sigma Pi has chartered more than 200 chapters in North America and has initiated more than 85,000 members since 1897. The founding fathers of the Fraternity are: Rolin Rosco James (1879 - 1953) William Raper Kennedy (1877 - 1944) James Thompson Kingsbury (1877 - 1950) George Martin Patterson (1877 - 1960) Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity (ISSN 1074-5289, USPS 011-013) has been published since 1911. Emerald is published quarterly by Sigma Pi Fraternity, P. O. Box 1897, Brentwood, Tennessee, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SIGMA PI FRATERNITY, P. O. Box 1897, Brentwood, TN 37024. MEMBERS: When making an address change, please send your full name and chapter with both the old and new address to the Executive Office address below. Submission Deadlines: Spring December 10 Summer March 10 Fall May 10 Winter September 10 Submit Emerald news to: Sigma Pi Fraternity, Attention: Emerald P. O. Box 1897, Brentwood, TN 37204 Telephone: (615) 373-5728 Fax: (615) 373-8949 Email: emerald@sigmapi.org
Fraternally, Member, North-American Interfraternity Conference
John D. Kitch Grand Sage THANKS: Sigma Pi would like to thank Elizabeth Telich and The Miami Student Newspaper in Oxford, Ohio, Masons of California, NASA, University of Missouri, Arkansas State University and the University of Illinois for the of pictures and articles in this issue of the Emerald.
Member, College Fraternity Editors Association
Copyright © 2006 Sigma Pi Fraternity